In this guide, you will learn the best prepper food to stockpile. We will go over the best foods for preppers and why you should get them.
When you decide to stockpile basic necessities in the event of a crisis or emergency, maintaining a healthful, satisfying, and diversified emergency pantry could be tough.
After all, when you mention survival or prepper food, canned goods are generally the first thing that comes to mind — hardly anything to look forward to.
While this is all well and good, it’s crucial to remember that these aren’t the only choices. Here are some of the best retail shelf-stable foods and what you should know about stockpiling them.
In This Article
What Makes a Food the Best Prepper Food?
1. Shelf Life
The most important thing to understand about survival food is that it isn’t just for when there aren’t any grocery shops around. Whenever it comes to long-term food preservation, more caution is required.
Not all food can be kept on the shelf. In fact, if you plan to stockpile food poorly for more than a few months, it will most certainly deteriorate.
However, certain foods can be preserved for longer periods of time than others. Brown and white rice are two of the top survival meals for survival scenarios.
White rice may be preserved for up to two years if kept in a clean and dry airtight food storage container. Brown rice, on the other hand, will keep for at least 6 months.
2. Calorie Density
Beans, pasta, and dried fruits are excellent prepper foods. This is due to the fact that they contain more calories than most other meals. However, if you want a little more variety, dried fruit is a good option (and lemon juice to preserve it).
Dried fruit is abundant in calories as well as nutritional value. Furthermore, when properly maintained, freeze-dried fruit can last up to 25 years. If you want a bit more variety, freeze-dried dinners or MREs can be a good option.
Best Survival Food
1. Canned Prepper Food
The best starting point is definitely canned products. They last for years on the shelf. They can resist earthquakes and even when they’re drowned in storm water, they’ll remain edible. What are the disadvantages of them though?
Well, they generally have a lot of sodium in them. Syrups are commonly found in canned fruit, which is typically unhealthy. Furthermore, the texture of canned vegetables is disgustingly mushy. I can’t eat canned green beans for the life of me.
Among the options are: Soups from cans tinned meals that are ready to eat and canned meat (chicken breast, Spam, and beef hash, for example).
More information about how long canned foods will last is found here.
2. High Carbohydrate Prepper Food
Carbohydrates provide energy and make you feel satisfied. They also improve the flavor of other dishes. They’re typically fairly bland, but with the right spices and sauce, it’ll taste much better. Typically, these meals are packaged in plastic bags or cartons.
For short-term storage, this is OK. It is not, however, appropriate for long-term food preservation. To begin, purchase enough of these meals to cycle around.
If you wish to put together a long-term preservation pack, wrap these goods in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers and then store them in buckets. Cooking is required for many of these dishes. As a result, be certain you have a plan for preparing them!
A gas camping stove is an excellent choice. Some of the best survival stoves are listed here. Many individuals prefer to keep flour on hand as one of their prepper staples. Baking powder and baking soda are also required for dishes such as pancakes and muffins.
If you want to store flour for a long time, make sure you have a strategy for how you’ll utilize it so you don’t forget to stockpile other essential materials. Among the possibilities are White rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, crackers, wheat, berries, millet, barley, oats flour, and everything else you’ll need to make things with it (such as dry yeast packets, baking soda, and baking powder)
3. High Protein Prepper Food
Dry beans are one of the most commonly suggested foods. However, they are not recommended for novice preppers. Why? What are your plans for preparing them? Cooking beans might take hours, which means you’ll use quite a lot of your backup fuel.
You’re better off with canned beans unless you have a solid off-grid cooking method and enough of fuel on hand. Also, keep in mind that insects can infest bulk dry beans (as well as dry rice and starches).
Possible items include: Beans that have been dried lentils (these cook much faster than dry beans) peas, and chickpeas in cans. You can also prep meat and fish in cans, and jerky. Here is a guide on how you can make your own jerky at home.
4. Dried Prepper Food
Dehydrated meals are excellent for disaster relief. They’re fine to eat on their own. You can also rehydrate them by submerging them in water. Foods that have been dehydrated have a long shelf life. Freeze-dried food can survive for decades.
Just be aware that dehydrated goods might become infested with insects. For long-term storage, you’ll want to rotate through them or repackage them. Among the possibilities are: fruits and vegetables that have been dried.
Check out our dehydrated meals guide here.
5. MRE Prepper Food
MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) were developed by the military to provide soldiers with a hot, calorie-dense, nutritional meal that would keep well in a combat setting. There are a plethora of them to choose from, and they are really useful. Simply pour a little cold water into the heating bag, and your entre will be heated and ready.
There’s no need for any cooking equipment, external fuel, or a camping stove. You’re fine to go as long as you have the MRE bag in your hands. Just keep in mind that MREs aren’t a survivalist food you should count on eating day after day for months on end in the event of a collapse.
The coolest thing with MREs is that they can be thrown into a bug out bag, emergency cache, or anything similar. It works on the same “store it and forget it” principle as freeze-dried meals, but on a smaller, more portable scale. MREs have several drawbacks, including a high price and a limited shelf life.
I’ve also discovered that some of them are downright revolting. A spaghetti meal with red sauce was one of the final MREs I ate. The sauce formed a film on top that tasted like… well, like plasticky film. However, I’ve eaten several that were amazing (e.g., brisket, pancakes, etc.). Your results may vary.
6. Other Essentials
Foods to Avoid
There are a few common staples that you would intuitively grab for in your survival food pack but should avoid if you’re seeking for adequate storage and lengthy shelf life. Although seeds and nuts are great, because of their high fat content, they deteriorate rapidly. Granola bars also won’t last long.
When comparing rice, brown rice has a significantly shorter shelf life than white rice.
How to Build a Long Term Food Storage
1. Start Small
This is a rather simple task. Simply buy a little more than you typically would each time you go to the store. You’ll soon have enough extra food at home to get you through a short-term crisis.
A few things to note is that so that food does not go bad, you must rotate it. Spend some time organizing your pantry. It’s much easier to cycle food when everything is in its place.
Concentrate on canned goods and prepared meals. These won’t spoil and are simple to eat in an emergency.
2. Collect More Prepper Food
A 30-day stock of prepper food is much more difficult. As a result, dry foods will be at danger of spoilage. That means you should start considering long-term storage options. Dry items (such as beans and whole grains) can be stored in mason jars with oxygen absorbers.
However, this isn’t the ideal solution because jars will shatter in a variety of situations. However, this method keeps foods from spoiling for a long period. You’ll still have to rotate between them, but you’ll have more time.
Also make sure you have a variety of foods on hand (fruits, veggies, proteins, carbs, fats). Also, make sure you have a variety of these (canned, bulk dry goods, dehydrated, freeze-dried).
A few things to consider is to not overlook the cooking procedures. In the event of an emergency, how will you prepare your saved foods? You’ll need an off-grid stove as well as fuel to power it.
Make a stockpile of items that you eat on a regular basis. Why would rice and beans be the foundation of your food stockpile if you don’t consume them regularly? Disasters have a significant psychological impact. It will be simpler to survive the crisis if you eat items you are acquainted with.
3. Build a Long-term Supply
You’ll need to improve your storage techniques if you don’t want to bother about rotating your food or if you want to go beyond a 30-day kit. Mylar bags and Oxygen Absorbers in buckets are one of the greatest long-term food storage solutions.
Mylar bags are impenetrable to oxygen and moisture (which causes food spoilage). The oxygen absorbers guarantee that there is no oxygen within the bags, which would destroy the food. Finally, the buckets keep rats and other pests out of the bags.
How to Store Prepper Food the Right Way
The most common error people make when it comes to survival food is storing it incorrectly. Consider this scenario: Would you want to eat a piece of fruit from someone’s garden that had been kept “fresh” in their cabinet for several months? Most likely not.
So, first and foremost, check the expiration dates and storage recommendations. Most survival food is intended to be kept in sealed containers with oxygen absorbers. If you don’t want to spend the money on storage bags and a vacuum sealer, mylar bags would suffice.
The key to long-term survival food storage is to keep it away from moisture and sunlight. Most experts recommend you to store your survival food in a dark, chilly environment of at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Consider investing in a refrigerator room or an industrial freezer if your neighborhood does not get that chilly. You can learn more about storing canned food properly here.
How Much Prepper Food You Need
It’s critical that you have enough storage space for your survivalist foods. For example, having a hundred cans of food won’t help you if your cupboards can only hold ten at a time. Setting aside a designated location for your emergency food supply is a good idea.
It won’t get mixed in with your usual food and won’t take up any time in your everyday routine this manner. Next, collect information about your family member’s typical meals. It may be difficult to estimate how much your family consumes on a regular basis, but you should be able to do so with time.
You should also look at how much they eat on a regular basis. Many food producers are now producing smaller amounts that are simpler to store and keep on hand for meal preppers.
When an emergency occurs, you’ll want to make sure you have enough food to go around. This includes not just being able to get food into their bellies, but also ensuring that they are full and satisfied at the end of each meal. A good source is RedCross.
That is why you need to know how to build a 6 month food storage supply.
Last Words
Anyone can build up a food storage with a little effort. This will assist you in preparing for anything that may occur to you or your family. While disaster strikes, there’s no need to worry if you take care when putting things away and keep vital supplies on hand.
If you have any other excellent prepper food tips or suggestions that aren’t featured above, please share them in the comments with your fellow preppers.
You can look at these articles, which you will find as exciting and informative as this one:
- Best Ways to Build a 6-Month Food Supply For Survival
- Canning 101 for Beginners To Learn to Preserve Food
- Survival Food List: Essential Foods to Hoard
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